Duke in All But Name (The Entitled Gentlemen Book 1) by Caroline Warfield

Author:Caroline Warfield [Warfield, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2022-12-06T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Alone with her uncle, Mia couldn’t be certain if his ferocious frown meant fury or simple worry. She groped for something to say. “I’m surprised to see you, Uncle. It appears you were spared the influenza. How is my cousin Eustace?”

“On the mend, they tell me. Unlike that worthless friend of his, Bettinton, who died,” Uncle Ludlow grumbled.

Mia had few emotional resources to extend to the rakehell. “I wasn’t fond of The Honorable Mr. Bettinton, but I didn’t wish him ill. His poor parents.”

“Raised a ramshackle son, the damned fools, didn’t they? But don’t distract me, girl. What were you thinking, allowing that man to insert himself into my Selina’s care?” Uncle Ludlow demanded.

Fury, then. “I’m sorry to cause concern, Uncle, but Mr. Kendrick stopped to inquire after Selina and found me ready to collapse. He had been treating the grooms who had fallen ill, and felt he was in no greater danger entering. Without sleep, I might have succumbed and left poor Selina bereft of care.” Mia tamped down irritation that the man had yet to ask about her own well-being. There was little point in antagonizing him.

“I’m told she is better,” the viscount said.

Mia brightened. “Much better. Her fever has gone. I believe it is safe for you to visit her. Mr. Kendrick sent for Dr. Standish yesterday, and he pronounced the worst over but ordered another week or more of bedrest until she fully recovers.”

“That doctor knows you were alone with him?” Horror transfixed her uncle’s stiff posture as much as his face. “The entire county will hear of it! How long was Kendrick alone with you?” Uncle Ludlow paced furiously, spun on his heels, and waved a hand as if to brush something away. “It doesn’t matter. Your reputation is shattered. No decent man will marry you now, and you’ve tainted my Selina as well. You’ll have to marry him.”

“Three days, two nights,” Mia whispered, answering the question he waved away. “And we weren’t alone. Selina and I—”

“Selina was incapacitated and can be held harmless,” he insisted. She wondered if he was attempting to convince himself.

“You can’t force him to marry me,” she said more emphatically. “He did nothing wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter what he did. It matters what people think. No gentleman will have you now, and I’ll not have you haunt my house as some fading spinster for decades. I won’t have it. Eustace will marry, and his wife will manage Selwyn Court. Marry Kendrick or go live with your Great-Aunt Hortensia.”

The breath left Mia’s chest. Uncle Ludlow had never been particularly unkind, but he’d always made it clear she was a burden he wished to dispense with, the product of his impecunious brother’s unwise marriage to a dissenting preacher’s daughter. After his wife had died, Mia had ceased having any use to him. She shouldn’t feel as shocked as she did, yet a weight had settled in her stomach.

A ruined reputation would leave her at the mercy of the worst of the gossips. She’d seen what vicious talk had done to Gideon.

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